Track system for toy electric railways



Aug. 10, 1954 I.. w. SHORT E L TRACK SYSTEM-FOR TOY ELECTRIC RAILWAYS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1' LEM UEL vv. SHOE? DE'AN W. SHOQT' INVENTOR$ Aug. 10, 1954 Filed May 18 WIN L. W. SHORT ET AL TRACK SYSTEM FOR TOY ELECTRIC RAILWAYS ava/976p 6/9) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. LEM uE- nv SHORT .D s A N w. SHORT Patented Aug. 10, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RAILWAY Lemuel W. Short and Dean W. Short, Beaverton, Oreg.

Application May 18, 1949, Serial No. 93,992

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to improvements in miniature railroad systems and more especially to a track system and arrangement including a main endless track, such as a circle or oval, which is made up of interconnected two rai1 track sections, and a crossover track made up of interconnected two rail track sections, the crossover track bein insulated from the main track and being supplied with electrical energy from a source independent of the source for the main track and being so arranged that the circuit in the crossover track is completed by the pick-up device on a car as the car travels over the crossover tracks. Thus, one of the primary objects of this invention is to provide insulated gaps between certain sections of the crossover track and other sections connected to the main track and to provide conducting wheels on a car, the gaps being bridged by the wheels and the spacing of the gaps being correlated with the longitudinal spacing and relationship of the conducting wheels so that uninterrupted travel of the car from the main track onto the crossover, over the crossover, and from the crossover back onto the main track is insured.

It is one of the principal objects of the invention to provide means for supplying continuous flow of electric energy, without interruption, to the said pick-up device of the car as it moves along the rails and enters the crossover insulated section of track before it completely leaves the insulated section of track adjacent to it.

A further object of the invention is the provision of means, when used with suitable switches and track layout, for completing a reverse loop to reverse the direction of travel of train or locomotive without interruption. Heretofore this has been considered impossible with a two rail system of the conventional type due to the fact that in making such a reverse loop the rails change relative positions with respect to each other and a short circuit of electrical conducting rails would result.

These and other objects will appear as our invention is more fully hereinafter described in the followin specification, illustrated in the accompanying drawing and finally pointed out in the appended claim.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of one arrangement of a miniature railroad track system embodying sections of track made in accordance with our invention.

Figure 2 is an enlarged side elevation of one of the sections of track shown in Figure 1 and showing a miniature railroad car also made in accordance with our invention operatively mounted upon said track. This view is taken approximately along the line 2-2 in Figure l.

proximately along the line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Figure 3 is a sectional top plan view taken approximately along the line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Referring now more particularly to the drawmgs:

In Figure 1 reference numeral I indicates generally an endless track which may be laid in a wide variety of arrangements such as in figure Bs, circles, and in various other patterns as employed inminiature railroad systems. In the particular arrangement shown in Figure 1 the track I, which for convenience will hereinafter be referred to as the main track, comprises a plurality of straight and curved sections 2 and 3, respectively, consisting of two rails d and 5 held apart in spaced relation to each other by ties 5 and connected with each other as at i all in the conventional manner. The straightaway and curved portions of the main track are connected with switches 8 to which the ends of a crossover track generally indicated at t are also connected.

Each of the sections 2 and each of the sections 3 of the main track are electrically connected with each other through the usual telescopic fittings at their ends in the usual manner so that electric current passing through the tracks may be picked up by the miniature car operating on the tracks. Electric current is supplied to the outside rail 4 of the main track by one lead It coming from a transformer I l supplied with current through wires l2 from any convenient source of supply. The other lead 13 of the transformer connects with the inside rail 5.

The crossover track 9 is made up of certain sections, for example, those indicated at l4, l5 and I B which are identical with the straight away sections 2 of the main track. Other sections of the crossover track which constitute one of the important features of my invention are indicated at I! and Ill. The crossover track is supplied with electric current by lead wires l9 and 20 coming from a transformer 2i of the type indicated at l I.

These sections of the crossover track indicated at I! and I8 are identical with each other and as best illustrated in Figures 2 and 3 each comprises two rails 22 and Z3 and each rail is made of two aligned sections 2425 and 262! respectively. The ends of the aligned sections of rails 24 and 25 and 26 and 21 are axially spaced from each other by insulated gaps 28 and 29, the gaps being maintained by small blocks of insulating material suitably positioned within the gaps. In connection with the said aligned sections 24-25 and 26-41, attention is directed to Fig. 3 wherein it will be noted that the aligned sections 24 and 25 are of unequal length, the section 24 being the longer and that the aligned sections 26-21 are likewise of unequal length, the section 2! being the longer. The long sections 24 and 21 are diagonally opposed as are the short sections 25 and 26. Thus, the gaps 28 and 29 between the sections lid-25 and 23-21 respectively, are diagonally opposed and longitudinally spaced. In other words, the gaps are spaced longitudinally apart and are on opposite sides of the sections !1 and E8 of the crossover track. This can be seen in Fig. 1. All or" the rail sections are secured to ties to in the usual manner and are insulated therefrom by the conventional insulating material 30A.

The miniature railroad car we have illustrated in Figure 2 may be a tender or any other type of car having front and rear trucks generally indicated at 31 and 32, respectively. Each truck is of conventional design comprising side plates 33 and Ed depending from a circular plate MA by means of which the truck is pivotally connected to the underside of the car in the usual manner, Extending across and secured to the plates 33 and 3d are two axles E5 and 36 upon which are rotatably mounted two pairs of wheels 37 and 38. The axles and 33, the side walls 3334 and the pair of wheels 3'! are made of metal and thereby provide an electrical conductor across the gap 28 (see front truck) as the truck passes thereover. The opposite wheels 38 of said truck are of course made of any approved type of insulating material such as Bakelite, fibre, hard rubber or the like. In the rear truck 32 the arrangement of the metallic and insulating wheels is reversed, that is to say, the pair of wheels are of insulating material and the opposite pair 4| are made of metal as are also the axles 42, side plates 43 and M.

As shown in Fig. 3, the conducting wheels 3? bridge the gap 23 simultaneous with the bridging of the gap 29 by the conducting wheels M. The circuit is completed from the track sections 24 25, the wheels through the pick-up device of the car to the wheels ll and track sections 262l. The longitudinal spacing of the wheels 31 and the wheels '3! matches the longitudinal spacing of r the gaps 28 and 29 and, obviously, the conducting wheels 3i and M are diagonally opposed in the same fashion as the gaps 28 and 29. Therefore, considering Fig. 1, it can be understood that the car will be energized by the source 5 l as it moves on the track section it; of the crossover and as the Wheels 3? bridge the gap 28, the wheels M will simultaneously bridge the gap 29. Until such time, the car is powered by the source H, but when the gaps are bridged, the cars pick-up device is energized by the source 2!. An uninterrupted movement of the car is thereby obtained.

Reverting to Figure 1, it will be seen that, due to the insulated gaps 28 and 29 in either sections of the track it and it, the crossover track may be electrified and at the same time insulated from electrical contact with the main truck due to the open circuit caused by the gaps 28-49 but which are bridged only as the trucks or the car pass over the gaps to close the circuits thereacross. One end of each track of the crossover track is mechanically connected to its respective switch base 8 of insulating material and also through a pointed block of insulating material indicated at 45, but electrically connected with the outside and in ide rails of the main track by means of conductors 4A and 5A respectively. By this arrangement, current flows into both ends of the crossover track 9 up to the insulated points 28 and 29 where the intermediate sections of the crossover track are supplied with a separate current from the transformer 25. As the trucks 3! and 32 of the car pass over the gaps 2B and 29, they close the circuit across the gaps and thus pick up energy from the source 2! through wires i2t as the trucks roll away from the sections energized from source ll through wires it! and iii.

The axles of each truck are also interconnected by a brush indicated at 4B and ll to which wires 68 and ii], are connected, respectively, and which extend outwardly through one end of the car for electrical connection with a motor equipped 1o- COmOtiVB or other towing car.

While we have shown a particular form of embodiment of our invention, we are aware that many minor changes therein will readily suggest themselves to others skilled in the art without departin from the spirit and scope of the invention. Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

A miniature railroad track system comprising in combination, an endless main track made up of a plurality of two-rail track sections interconneced at their ends, a crossover track positioned inside the endless main track and comprisin a plurality of two-rail track sections interconnected together, said crossover track including end track sections, switches connecting said end track sections of the crossover track to opposite points of the main track, said switches having two-rail sections connected to the and track sections and each of said two rail sections having a rail adjacent the inner rail of the main track and said rail of each of said sections being insulated from the inner rail of the main track, the end track sections of the crossover track being electrically connected to the main track, said crossover track having track sections intermediate said end track sections thereof, each of certain of said intermediate track sections having two aligned rails of unequal length on one side spaced longitudinally from each other at their adjoining ends to form an insulating gap at one end of said section and two aligned rails of unequal l ngth on the other side spaced longitudinally from each other at their adjoining ends to form an insulating gap at the other end of said section, said insulating gaps being thereby longitudinally spaced and diagonally opposed, a first source of electrical energy connected to the main track and to the end track sections of the crossover track and supplying electrical current to the track sections or the main track and to the end track sections or" the crossover track, a second source of electrical energy connected to the rails or the intermediate tract: sections of the crossover track, and a railroad car mounted upon longitudinally spaced front and rear trucks operable on said tracks and one truck having conductin wheels on one side thereof and electrically interconnected with each other and having insulating Wheels on the opposite side or the truck, and the other truck being structurally identical with the first mentioned truck but arranged in a reverse position on the track wherein its insulated wheels are located on the rail opposite to the rail on which the insulated wheels of the first mentioned truck are located and its conducting wheels are located on the rail opposite to the rail on which the conducting wheels of the first mentioned truck are located, 2

will close an electrical circuit at one end of each of said certain of said intermediate track sections with the conducting Wheels on one truck and at the opposite end of said certain of said intermediate track sections With the conducting wheels on the truck at the opposite end of said car, said conducting Wheels of the one truck being longitudinally spaced from the conducting Wheels of the other truck the same distance as the longitudinal spacing of the gaps to thereby bridge the gaps.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Jeney et a1. Mar. 27, 1928 Swartwout Apr. 23, 1929 Rosenthol May 30, 1933 Bonanno Mar. 17, 1942 Smith May 9, 1950 

